News from the Manchester Historic Association

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Manchester

April 6, 2022

In This Issue

1 Jeff Barraclough to Lead Manchester Historic Association

2 MHA Annual Meeting set for April 27

3 The People's Sculptor: The Life and Works of John Rogers

4 Member of the Month: Carter Beck

5 Manchester Trivia Questions

Jeff Barraclough to Lead

Manchester Historic Association

We are pleased to announce that Jeff Barraclough has been named Executive Director of the Manchester Historic Association.

He is well known to MHA members, having served as Director of Operations of the MHA for 10 years. Jeff also has additional experience in the museum and historical field, having previously worked at the Adams National Historic Park and New England Historic Genealogical Society,

He most recently served as Executive Director of the Moffatt-Ladd House & Garden in Portsmouth.

Jeff is also an adjunct faculty member at Gordon College, currently serves as president of the New Hampshire Heritage Museum Trail, and is on the board of the Association of Historical Societies of New Hampshire. Welcome Jeff!

MHA's 126th Annual Meeting to be held April 27

Join us at the Millyard Museum on April 27 at 5:30 p.m. for the MHA's Annual Meeting. Members will vote to approve new trustees.

The meeting will coincide with the opening of the new exhibit celebrating the works of sculptor John Rogers (see item below). Executive Director Jeff Barraclough will tell the story of John Rogers and explain the research and techniques he employed in curating the exhibit.

“The People's Sculptor:

The Life and Works of John Rogers”

On April 27, the Manchester Historic Association will unveil a new exhibit: “The People's Sculptor: The Life and Works of John Rogers” at the Millyard Museum.

Rogers was a well-known artist whose statuary "groups" became extremely popular in the mid-to-late 1800s. He was the first American sculptor to mass produce his work and worked mostly in plaster to make his sculptures more affordable.

The artist came to Manchester in 1850 at the age of 20 and went to work as a draftsman at the Amoskeag machine shop, where he began dabbling in sculpture using clay he discovered near the Merrimack River in Hooksett.

In 1856, Rogers left Manchester for New York City and began mass-producing his sculptures. Between 1860 and 1893, Rogers created 80 different groups - many Civil War-related, such as Council of War seen above - and sold more than 80,000 sculptures, which made art attainable to the American middle class for the first time.

Executive Director Jeff Barraclough will serve as curator for the exhibit. For more information, call 603-622-7531. If you would like to assist the MHA in staging more exhibits such as this, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our Heritage Fund by clicking here.

Member of the Month:

Carter Beck

Carter Beck describes himself as "mostly retired" from his position as Senior Vice President and Counsel for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which leaves he and his partner Marco Protano plenty of time to appreciate the work of the Manchester Historic Association.

"I and my spouse support and have supported the MHA for a number of years due to the MHA's important focus on keeping the history of our city vibrant," said Carter, who volunteers to serve on the selection committee for the MHA's Historic Preservation Awards.

"The various programs and exhibits the MHA offers are amazing reminders of our predecessors and our collective histories in Manchester, and, the education programs provided for students of the Manchester's schools inform our youth and give them a foundation to understand and appreciate the city in which we all live."

Did You Get Last Month's Manchester Trivia Question?

Last Month's Trivia Question: Nine men from the Queen City have been elected Governor of New Hampshire, the most recent being the late Stephen E. Merrill. Can you name at least three of the remaining eight?

ANSWER: In addition to Merrill, the eight other Governors from Manchester include Frederick Smyth (at right), James A. Weston, Ezekiel A, Straw, Person C. Cheney, Moody Currier, Charles M. Floyd, Albert O, Brown and John W. King.

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This Month's Trivia Question: During the Great Strike of 1922, the French-Language newspaper L'avenir National was squarely on the side of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, so much so that strikers referred to the newspaper as "tete de cochon." What does "tete de chochon" mean?

The answer will appear in next month's newsletter.

The Manchester Historic Association is an independent tax-exempt charitable 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization with the mission to collect, preserve and share the history of Manchester, New Hampshire USA. The Association operates the Millyard Museum and Research Center.