Join Us for a Daylight Ghost Tour
October 27, 2012
11:00 am
Admission: Adults $5.00, kids under 13 $3.00
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Apple Festival 2012
Weather permitting, we we display our WWII "Wall of Honor" created for the 2010 exhibit "Hub of the Universe - Springfield in WWII." The is a list of service members from Springfield who served during the Second World War. Chat with our student interns and volunteers who will be dressed in fashions from the 1940s.
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| WWII Springfield, Vt "Wall of Honor" |
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| Student Inters at last years Apple Festival |
Still haven't seen our exhibit "A Love Story in Paintings & Letters?" Better hurry! This exhibits end this weekend.
Spencer Hollow School Added to National Record of Historic Places
Congratulations to the Friends of the Spencer Hollow
School for their efforts in having the Spencer Hollow school added to the National Record of Historic Places. Built in 1781, and located near the intersection of Spencer Hollow Road and Skitchewaug Trail in Springfield, Vt, the Spencer Hollow
School is the oldest one-room brick school house in the state of Vermont.
A recent article from the Vermont Journal
SPRINGFIELD, VT -The local organization “Friends of the Spencer hollow School” is pleased to announce the addition of the “LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE” to the National Record of Historic Places. This elevation to National Register status greatly enhances our opportunity for future Grant awards.
Historically, public school was kept at the schoolhouse from 1781 to 1926. From the early 1930’s the building was used by the “Spencer Hollow Club” as a general meeting place for local folks to enjoy social events, various local club meetings, and even church. Such activities continued into the late 1970’s after which the building was abandoned and left open. Significant damage and theft occurred in the ensuing period.
In 2007 a local group formed “The Friends of the Spencer Hollow School” and immediately started restoration projects. Four years, several hundred hours of volunteer labor and some major assistance from many local contractors later, great progress has been made. Several major projects remain however; among which include roof stabilization, foundation stabilization, inside wall restoration and kitchen restoration, to name a few. Meanwhile, we continue our efforts at Grant support, contractor support and general support from the community at large including designated gifts.
Also, we have heard many interesting comments regarding the fun times people have had at one or more of the functions held at the building. If you have a story regarding any person you know that attended the school or had a fun time there yourself we would like to hear from you. Please contact Don Whitney at 802-886- 2863 or Bill Mitchell at 802-885-5068
The Friends are extending an invitation to the public to attend an Open House, Saturday, October 20, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., to see the progress being made and to sense what a one room schoolhouse of the 18th century was like."
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| Spencer Hollow School, Springfield, Vt |
A recent article from the Vermont Journal
"230-Year-Old Schoolhouse Added to the National Register of Historic Places
SPRINGFIELD, VT -The local organization “Friends of the Spencer hollow School” is pleased to announce the addition of the “LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE” to the National Record of Historic Places. This elevation to National Register status greatly enhances our opportunity for future Grant awards.
Historically, public school was kept at the schoolhouse from 1781 to 1926. From the early 1930’s the building was used by the “Spencer Hollow Club” as a general meeting place for local folks to enjoy social events, various local club meetings, and even church. Such activities continued into the late 1970’s after which the building was abandoned and left open. Significant damage and theft occurred in the ensuing period.
In 2007 a local group formed “The Friends of the Spencer Hollow School” and immediately started restoration projects. Four years, several hundred hours of volunteer labor and some major assistance from many local contractors later, great progress has been made. Several major projects remain however; among which include roof stabilization, foundation stabilization, inside wall restoration and kitchen restoration, to name a few. Meanwhile, we continue our efforts at Grant support, contractor support and general support from the community at large including designated gifts.
Also, we have heard many interesting comments regarding the fun times people have had at one or more of the functions held at the building. If you have a story regarding any person you know that attended the school or had a fun time there yourself we would like to hear from you. Please contact Don Whitney at 802-886- 2863 or Bill Mitchell at 802-885-5068
The Friends are extending an invitation to the public to attend an Open House, Saturday, October 20, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., to see the progress being made and to sense what a one room schoolhouse of the 18th century was like."
Monday, September 24, 2012
Springfield Town Library Garden Dedicated to D.J. Fusonie
It was with heavy hearts that we received the news in December 2011, that Springfield Art and Historical Society trustee D.J. Fusonie had passed away. D.J., along with her husband Alan, had been long time trustees and supporters of the SAAHS. Indeed, Alan continues to show his support for the historical society as well as other organizations in town.
On Thursday September 20, the Springfield Town Library along with the Friends of the Springfield Town Library dedicated a garden in memory of D.J. and her work at the library. The garden is located between the Springfield Town Library and the Furman’s building on Main Street in downtown Springfield.
The article below is from the Rutland Herald, September 22, 2012
"New garden dedicated in librarian’s memory
SPRINGFIELD — Donna Jean “D.J.” Fusonie by all accounts loved libraries and loved books.
Her husband, Alan, on Thursday said the quality of the Springfield Town Library was a deciding factor when the Washington, D.C., area couple — professional librarians — retired and moved to Vermont in 1994.
Alan Fusonie said he and D.J., as she was universally known, loved the library, and it was natural that a small garden was created along the south lawn of the library in her memory.
On Thursday, a group of the Fusonies’ friends and colleagues gathered at the dedication of the garden, which was built by Shannon Stevens of Springfield.
The garden includes many perennial and annual flowers, a small flowering crab apple and other blooming shrubs.
“She brought her extraordinary library skills, extensive experience and love of helping others to the library,” said the library’s director, Russell Moore. D.J. Fusonie worked part time as a reference librarian. “She was a very accomplished reference librarian,” Moore said.
Moore said D.J. Fusonie had an accomplished professional life, working as a librarian for the Smithsonian Institution, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and as director of the Reference Center for the Economic Research Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Moore said after the ceremony that Fusonie had started her career as a children’s librarian in Maryland.
D.J. Fusonie died suddenly last December after a short, shocking illness, said Moore. She felt sick one day at work, shortly after Christmas last year, and within two days, she was gone, he recalled Thursday. She was 66.
The garden space was filled with blue myrtle and pink lily of the valley, butterfly bush, purple coneflower, Siberian iris, and day lilies and peonies.
Moore said the space, which creates a pocket park between the library and the Furman’s building to the south, was once hidden from Main Street by a large crab apple tree.
But Moore said the tree had grown too big for its location and its roots were starting to invade the neighboring buildings. Its removal in the spring created the opportunity for the memorial park, he said. There is a bench in the small garden for reading and contemplation.
Moore said Stevens had designed, planted and maintained the garden, and she had spent countless hours as a volunteer to create it. Funding for the garden was provided by the Friends of the Springfield Town Library, as well as donations in D.J. Fusonie’s memory.
susan.smallheer
@rutlandherald.com"
On Thursday September 20, the Springfield Town Library along with the Friends of the Springfield Town Library dedicated a garden in memory of D.J. and her work at the library. The garden is located between the Springfield Town Library and the Furman’s building on Main Street in downtown Springfield.
 |
| The Springfield Town Library dedicated a new garden on the south lawn in memory of Donna Jean “D.J.” Fusonie. Photo: CHRISTIAN AVARD PHOTO |
"New garden dedicated in librarian’s memory
SPRINGFIELD — Donna Jean “D.J.” Fusonie by all accounts loved libraries and loved books.
Her husband, Alan, on Thursday said the quality of the Springfield Town Library was a deciding factor when the Washington, D.C., area couple — professional librarians — retired and moved to Vermont in 1994.
Alan Fusonie said he and D.J., as she was universally known, loved the library, and it was natural that a small garden was created along the south lawn of the library in her memory.
On Thursday, a group of the Fusonies’ friends and colleagues gathered at the dedication of the garden, which was built by Shannon Stevens of Springfield.
The garden includes many perennial and annual flowers, a small flowering crab apple and other blooming shrubs.
“She brought her extraordinary library skills, extensive experience and love of helping others to the library,” said the library’s director, Russell Moore. D.J. Fusonie worked part time as a reference librarian. “She was a very accomplished reference librarian,” Moore said.
Moore said D.J. Fusonie had an accomplished professional life, working as a librarian for the Smithsonian Institution, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and as director of the Reference Center for the Economic Research Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Moore said after the ceremony that Fusonie had started her career as a children’s librarian in Maryland.
D.J. Fusonie died suddenly last December after a short, shocking illness, said Moore. She felt sick one day at work, shortly after Christmas last year, and within two days, she was gone, he recalled Thursday. She was 66.
The garden space was filled with blue myrtle and pink lily of the valley, butterfly bush, purple coneflower, Siberian iris, and day lilies and peonies.
Moore said the space, which creates a pocket park between the library and the Furman’s building to the south, was once hidden from Main Street by a large crab apple tree.
But Moore said the tree had grown too big for its location and its roots were starting to invade the neighboring buildings. Its removal in the spring created the opportunity for the memorial park, he said. There is a bench in the small garden for reading and contemplation.
Moore said Stevens had designed, planted and maintained the garden, and she had spent countless hours as a volunteer to create it. Funding for the garden was provided by the Friends of the Springfield Town Library, as well as donations in D.J. Fusonie’s memory.
susan.smallheer
@rutlandherald.com"
Monday, July 30, 2012
Albert Gutterson Wins Olympic Gold in 1912
Article by Lisa Champagne - "University of Vermont - UVM's Albert Gutterson Won Olympic Gold Medal 100 Years Ago Today"
"BURLINGTON, Vt. - Former University of Vermont track and field standout Albert Gutterson (Class of 1912) won a gold medal in the broad jump at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden 100 years ago today (July 12, 2012). Click here to see a photo album of the memorabilia from his Olympic achievements, including the gold medal on the UVM Athletics Facebook page.
Gutterson set a new Olympic record with a leap of 7.60 meters (24' 11 3/4"). Gutterson's Olympic record stood until 1928, when Edward Hamm jumped 25' 4 3/4". The current world record is held by Mike Powell at 8.95 meters.
Gutterson, who was inducted into the UVM Athletic Hall of Fame in 1969, was a native of Springfield, Vt. At the University of Vermont where he was a member of several campus honoraries, Gutterson spent four years becoming the greatest track athlete in the school's history. His most impressive achievement came in a dual meet against the University of Maine: posting victories in the broad jump, high jump, discus, low hurdles and two sprints, and one second place finish, for an incredible 33-point performance.
But the Olympics capped his great career. As he once put it, "That was a great meet I never will forget. The best athletes in the world were there, the field was wonderful, competition was keen, many records were broken, and I made many friends." When he returned home, he began a long a distinguished career with Springfield's machine tool industry, culminating in his election in 1950 as president of the Lovejoy Tool Co. in Springfield.
Gutterson was a University Trustee from 1954 to 1960, and has been honored by his alma mater with the "varsity letter in life award," and the Distinguished Alumni Service Award. The hockey arena (Gutterson Fieldhouse) is named to honor his achievements and his generosity and service to his alma mater. Gutterson passed away in Burlington on April 6, 1965.
Sports Illustrated selected Gutterson as one of the Top 50 Vermont athletes of the 20th Century. The magazine's editors composed a list of the "Top 50 Athletes" in each state in its December 27, 1999 issue to commemorate the millennium. Gutterson ranked fifth among the Top 50 Vermonters."
For additional information on Albert Gutterson, please see the article - "A Flying Leap - Remembering Vermont's Summer Olympics gold medalist" by Thomas Simon
For additional photo please see the photo album of the memorabilia on Facebook
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| Albert Lovejoy Gutterson, native of Springfield, Vermont, winning the broad jump at the 1912 Olympic Games held in Stockholm, Sweden. Gutterson set a new Olympic record. Photo UVM athletics |
Gutterson set a new Olympic record with a leap of 7.60 meters (24' 11 3/4"). Gutterson's Olympic record stood until 1928, when Edward Hamm jumped 25' 4 3/4". The current world record is held by Mike Powell at 8.95 meters.
Gutterson, who was inducted into the UVM Athletic Hall of Fame in 1969, was a native of Springfield, Vt. At the University of Vermont where he was a member of several campus honoraries, Gutterson spent four years becoming the greatest track athlete in the school's history. His most impressive achievement came in a dual meet against the University of Maine: posting victories in the broad jump, high jump, discus, low hurdles and two sprints, and one second place finish, for an incredible 33-point performance.
But the Olympics capped his great career. As he once put it, "That was a great meet I never will forget. The best athletes in the world were there, the field was wonderful, competition was keen, many records were broken, and I made many friends." When he returned home, he began a long a distinguished career with Springfield's machine tool industry, culminating in his election in 1950 as president of the Lovejoy Tool Co. in Springfield.
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| Albert Gutterson at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. Photo Wikipedia |
Sports Illustrated selected Gutterson as one of the Top 50 Vermont athletes of the 20th Century. The magazine's editors composed a list of the "Top 50 Athletes" in each state in its December 27, 1999 issue to commemorate the millennium. Gutterson ranked fifth among the Top 50 Vermonters."
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| Albert Gutterson during the long jump competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics. Photo wikipedia |
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| Photo by Matthew Thorsen |
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Article about our new exhibit from "The Shopper"
“A Love Story in Painting and Letters” Eldredge Summer Exhibition at the Miller Art Center”
Submitted by VT Journal on Tue, 07/10/2012 - 4:54pm
SPRINGFIELD, VT -A love story between two artists, their art and careers during the early1930s plays out on the walls of the Springfield Miller Art Center’s summer exhibition of paintings which opens on
Thursday, July12, 2012 and continues through Monday, October 8, 2012.
Entitled ‘A Love Story in Paintings and Letters’ the works on display depict the burgeoning art careers of Springfield artists Stuart Eldredge and his wife to be Marion Schumann during the years when they
first met as students in New York in the early 1930s and entered the art world.
Marion was born in Brooklyn in 1903, she graduated with a bachelors degree in Costume Illustration from Columbia University Teacher’s College in 1924 then worked as a fashion artist at Bergdorf Goodman.
She met Stuart while taking night courses at the Art Students League.
Stuart was born in South Bend, Indiana in 1902, he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1924 with a degree in English. He returned home to work in art and design for Wyman’s Department Store owned by his family. Many of his paintings are landscapes of the Mid-West showing farming activities. But he wanted to study in New York and subsequently enrolled at the Art Students League where he met Marion
and their friendship began.
The couple’s letters were discovered in a box, tied with ribbon, when their daughter Betsy and her husband Denis Rydjeski were insulating the attic of the family farm in Springfield. The Eldridge family has
retained a number of their parents’ early works and from the letters matched them with the paintings and illustrations the artists discussed and were working on in the early 1930s.
Excerpts from the letters are exhibited alongside the works so visitors can read of progress, or lack of, trouble painting trees -- Stuart admires Marion’s expertise, Stuart taking his paints out in a boat and the time taken for oils to dry. Some illustrations in the letters show how work progresses; visitors can then view the finished piece.
Their work is prolific; Marion has several portraits and paintings of people and trees. Stuart paints still lifes, landscapes and nature. Stick insects and praying mantis interest the couple, caterpillars and
chrysalis. In 1932 Stuart received a Fellowship at the Tiffany Foundation in Oyster Bay, Long Island. The couple wrote to each other almost every day and the letters follow their friendship as it develops.
Their styles also develop with both artists painting abstracts. Stuart began work on advertising for New York stores and received commissions for book jackets, a couple of which are on display.
They were married on Christmas Day in 1933.
Stuart taught at Cooper Union and the Art Students League, he had studied at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design Mural Atelier and painted murals for private homes and offices. He also painted for the textile building of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, later the mural of Springfield at the current Employment Office and the circus mural at the Springfield Library.
The Hood Museum at Dartmouth is home to one of his paintings as are many public and private collections. He was a member of the National Society of Mural Painters, Academic Artists, and the National Watercolor Society.
The couple moved to Vermont where they painted, farmed and raised their four daughters. Marion recorded the growth of their daughters in drawings and paintings, but she also painted Vermont landscapes,
flowers from her garden and belonged to the Southern Vermont Art Center where she exhibited as well as other galleries throughout the region.
Not to be missed at the exhibit in a small upstairs room is Marion’s 1924 Columbia Yearbook when she was Art Editor of the Year.
Visit the exhibit to learn and appreciate more about the art and lives of this Springfield couple.
The summer opening hours for the exhibit are: Thursday evening 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays through July, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For viewing by appointment call 802-885-4826
or the Miller Art Center 802-885-2415."
This article is from "The Shopper" and can be found here. The photos below are from the opening reception held on July 12th.
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