{"id":2318,"date":"2013-11-27T23:57:59","date_gmt":"2013-11-28T03:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/?p=2318"},"modified":"2017-11-01T19:21:16","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T23:21:16","slug":"thanksgiving-1885","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/thanksgiving-1885\/","title":{"rendered":"Thanksgiving, 1885"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"wardman<\/a>
Thanksgiving, 1885. (Click on all images to enlarge.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thanksgiving, a national holiday since 1863, had special significance in Massachusetts, its state of origin.\u00a0 But the tradition of a school vacation is relatively recent.\u00a0 In the 19th century Williston Seminary celebrated the day, but that was all. Still, Seminary students welcomed any holiday.<\/p>\n

George Benjamin Wardman, class of 1889, kept a scrapbook of his first two years at Williston, which he entered in the fall of 1885.\u00a0 It is a fascinating collection.\u00a0 Wardman saved printed memorabilia of debates, theatrical events (to which he happily journeyed significant distances), ballgames, dances, musical entertainments, the occasional restaurant meal \u2013 all in all, evidence of a student deeply committed to every aspect of school life except, perhaps, the academic program.<\/p>\n

\"wardman<\/a>Among Wardman\u2019s souvenirs is the menu from the Williston Dining Hall\u2019s Thanksgiving Dinner in 1885.\u00a0 It is a sumptuous repast, featuring not only the traditional turkey, but goose, oysters, and an array of desserts that would have lifted the hearts, and possibly the arteries, of any adolescent in boarding-school exile from his family.\u00a0 Should he still be hungry, there was an \u201cEvening Collation\u201d offering even more treats.<\/p>\n

\"mansion<\/a>
The Mansion House, Easthampton’s grand hotel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Thanksgiving<\/a>
Thanksgiving “Salve,” 1887<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The name \u201cWilliston Dining Hall\u201d is misleading.\u00a0 In the 1880s, the Seminary offered lodgings, but no food services.\u00a0 Some students and faculty formed eating clubs in local restaurants or the town\u2019s one hotel, the Mansion House (remembered by older present-day alumni as Payson Hall).\u00a0 About 100 students took their meals at one of two boarding houses, the larger of which was managed by a Mr. H. A. Stevens.\u00a0 Stevens grandly billed his establishment as the \u201cSeminary Dining Hall,\u201d and billed the students $3.50 a week for three squares a day.\u00a0 The other, probably more intimate and upscale boarding house was that of Mrs. Jane Olney, who charged a whopping $5.00 per week.<\/p>\n

\"wardman<\/a>Wardman also preserved the program from an 1887 Thanksgiving celebration, \u201cSalve\u201d (\u201cHail\u201d).\u00a0 The document is of interest for a variety of reasons: first, that it is dated, in Latin, December 8th.\u00a0\u00a0 The national Thanksgiving holiday was, by Presidential proclamation, celebrated on November 24th, but some states, including Massachusetts, used different dates.\u00a0 Second, the party was held at the \u201cWilliston Mansion,\u201d today called the Homestead.\u00a0 This had been the residence of Samuel and Emily Williston.\u00a0 But with Emily\u2019s death in 1885, the house had been willed to the school.\u00a0 Emily\u2019s intent was that it should become the Principal\u2019s residence, as indeed it would be for four Headmasters.\u00a0 But in 1887 William Gallagher, in his second year in the top job, had either not yet moved in, or chose, even had he been the host, to leave his name off the invitation.\u00a0 Either way, it is unlikely that Emily, of Puritan sensibilities, would have approved of card games on the premises.<\/p>\n

George Wardman\u2019s biography has the flavor of the Old West long past: born in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1869, he came to Williston Seminary from New Orleans.\u00a0 He enrolled in the class of 1888, but financial difficulties forced his early departure.\u00a0 He went to California to seek his fortune, which he did not find, but returned to Williston to graduate in 1889.\u00a0 He studied civil engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for a year, then helped construct the Great Northern Railway from Great Falls, Montana, westward.\u00a0 He later became a chemist and assayer, working with several copper mining concerns in Colorado, Arizona, and Deadwood, South Dakota, where he was married.\u00a0 He later became a mining executive and commercial agent in Aguascalientes, Mexico, where he served as U.S. Consul.\u00a0 He died in California in 1951.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Williston Mansion, ca. 1885.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Williston Northampton!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanksgiving, a national holiday since 1863, had special significance in Massachusetts, its state of origin.\u00a0 But the tradition of a school vacation is relatively recent.\u00a0 In the 19th century Williston Seminary celebrated the day, but that was all. Still, Seminary students welcomed any holiday. George Benjamin Wardman, class of 1889, kept a scrapbook of his … Continue reading Thanksgiving, 1885<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[140,453,25],"tags":[282,281,284,285,286,280,283],"class_list":["post-2318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni-alumnae","category-student-life","category-williston-seminary","tag-food-service","tag-george-wardman","tag-h-a-stevens","tag-jane-olney","tag-scrapbooks","tag-thanksgiving","tag-williston-dining-hall"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2318"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2617,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318\/revisions\/2617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}