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Tag: William Penn

Penn’s Pen: Caretaker of a New World

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In honor of our upcoming Independence Day, we thought it fitting to share some of William Penn’s thoughts.  In the letter excerpt below, Penn had just received the Charter from King Charles II and was now contemplating the immense burden just placed on his 37-year-old shoulders:

“My Friends:

            “I wish you all happiness, here, and hereafter. These are to let you know that it hath pleased God, in his providence, to cast you within my lot and care. It is a business that, although I never undertook before, yet God hath given me an understanding of my duty, and an honest mind to do it uprightly. I hope you will not be troubled at your change and the King’s choice for you are now fixed at the mercy of no governor that comes to make his fortune great; you shall be governed by laws of your own making and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious life. I shall not usurp the right of any, or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution and has given me his grace to keep it…” 

A map of the Americas by Dutch Engraver Johannes de Ram, c. 1685. Notice how anything past the coastal regions of North America are completelyunmapped - they had yet to even understand how the vast promise of their new world.

In 1681, William Penn was granted a Charter to a piece of land in America “nearly the size of England”. Willing and ready to place into action his “holy experiment”, William Penn had a vision for Pennsylvania, a vision that would far exceed even the most liberal man’s expectations. Pennsylvania, so named by King Charles II in honor of Penn’s father, Sir Admiral Penn, the colony’s government’s design truly helped to form the basis of the Constitution we have come to know and abide by today.   The most prominent of ideas that passed on into the freedoms we cherish today are the ability to choose your own faith, freedom of speech, and above all life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although our Founding Fathers never had the privilege of knowing William Penn himself, having been separated through a hundred years of history, I think it is safe to say that William Penn would have been proud to see how Pennsylvania and the states that were to follow came to form the country we know today.

 “It is a clear and just thing, and my God that has given it me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care to the government that it be well laid at first.” (Wm. Penn to Robert Turner, March 1681)

By Mary Barbagallo, Intern

 

Further Reading:

Penn by Elizabeth Janet Gray, 1986, Graphics Standards, West Chester, Pa

William’s World: Men of Metal and Mettle

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Back in May, we posted an article on the Joyner’s Trade.  Now our intern Ray is exploring the blacksmithing tradition at Pennsbury and wants to share what he’s found!

"Blacksmith at His Forge," Le Nain Brothers,1640

A blacksmith in the time of William Penn was considered a highly skilled craftsman, someone who could provide a town or estate community with valuable tools and metal accoutrements. We know of a “smith” on the estate of Pennsbury Manor from a 1687 inventory and various letters that have survived. One list called for blacksmithing tools to be brought over by ship from England. Along with these tools, the shop was stocked with a bed, blankets, rugs, and two chests. This indicates that not only did a blacksmith work at Pennsbury, but also most likely lived above his shop. A worker with such skills would be essential on a working estate like Pennsbury, for he would be required to create, maintain or repair any object made of metal on the property. Along with his normal duties, we have reason to believe Penn’s “smith” also helped deliver mail. In a letter from local Quaker resident Phineas Pemberton to his wife Alice, he wrote that “this comes by the Govenor’s smith.”

During the excavation of the site in the 1930’s, many artifacts such as nails, latches, and hinges were found (on view in our exhibit!). Items such as these would have been manufactured by Penn’s “smith,” along with various tools and even shoes for horses. Today at Pennsbury, we have a reconstructed blacksmith shop with tools that would have been used in this pre-industrial setting. Every first Sunday from April-October, volunteer interpreters recreate the atmosphere of fire and clanging metal in their blacksmithing demonstrations for visitors. 

 

~ Written by Ray Tarasiewicz, Intern

 

 

 

Exploring the Artifacts: Just a Matter of Time

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Popular from 1600 to 1650, the Lantern Clock that is located in the Governor’s Parlor of the Manor House is just one example of many that were produced during that period of time. The design, English in origin, is characteristically known for its square, lantern shape, single hand face and ornate engravings. Lantern clocks were hung on the wall and were broader than the Gothic wall clocks that were previously popular.

 

Almost entirely constructed from brass and driven by weights, Lantern clocks were modern for their time and fulfilled all the important requirements of a clock, such as keeping a time standard, having a driving force, and having a counting and indicating system.

The lantern clocks would later be replaced by the Longcase Clock (seen right and below), which became popular in the 18th Century.  This later design 

would show off a woodworker’s skills by encasing the mechanical functions with intricately-designed panels.   

  Continue reading “Exploring the Artifacts: Just a Matter of Time”

The Country Life: Beating the Winter Cold

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Although the Penn family did not reside at Pennsbury in the dead of winter, the estate was certainly not dead; the staff worked to ensure the smooth running of Penn’s summer home in all seasons. Colonial gardeners were no exception, cultivating techniques to battle the cold and prepare for spring. As colonials tired of pickled and salted foods during the winter months, they longed for fresh produce. The hot bed, an important part of the colonial kitchen garden, allowed colonists to begin growing vegetables before spring thawed the ground.

 

16th-century engraving of a gardener working on his raised garden beds (“The Gardener’s Labyrinth,” Thomas Hill).  Raised bed allowed gardeners to adjust the composition of the soil, adding or lessening acidity depending on the plant being cultivated.  Hot beds were a variation on the standard raised bed frame.

 

In Pennsbury’s garden, the hotbed is located opposite the riverside next to the cold frames. A brick and wood structure, the hotbed protects seedlings from the bitter cold and provides the perfect environment for out-of-season growth. Colonial gardeners would have layered soil over fresh manure from the barn to create the heat source. Once the manure cooled to about seventy degrees Fahrenheit, the bed was ready for seeds. Straw placed on top provided additional protection from the elements. If prepared properly, the hotbed could retain its heat for several weeks.

Although its main purpose was to jumpstart vegetables in the cold weather, colonial gardeners would have used the hotbed year round to grow a variety of plants. We still use the hotbed for this purpose at Pennsbury (see below). For example, last summer, the gardeners used the hotbed to provide a space for growing flax. The hotbed gave us the perfect place to monitor the young flax plants and ensure they would be mature enough for the fall harvest.

 

A hotbed at Pennsbury Manor, 2011

 

Colonists were not able to simply walk into the supermarket and pick up fruits and vegetables during the winter like we can, but they were not completely helpless. They wasted no resources, and that includes time. While they could not beat Mother Nature’s icy grip on their gardens, they could manipulate the temperature of their own growing environment, the hotbed.

 

**Come to Pennsbury Manor’s Gardening Sunday on May 27 and see what’s starting to sprout in the Kitchen Garden!**

 

Written by Danielle Lehr, 2011 Intern

Edited by Hannah Howard

William’s World: Ode to the Springtime Milkmaid!

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The Milkmaid, Jan Vermeer, 1657-8

I really don’t like to milk cows.  I can’t stand to churn butter.  I know this is a shocking admission from a so-called history geek, but it’s true.  So each spring I breathe a grateful sigh of relief that I can buy my milk and butter in containers at the grocery store!

I wonder how the milk-maids of Pennsbury Manor felt about these chores in the 1680s.  We don’t know their names, but we know they were here and that they were making butter:  in 1684, William Penn suggested that James Harrison’s wife, Ann, supervise the maids in the dairy;  the 1687 inventory includes churns and other butter-making equipment as well as 6 cows; there is strong evidence that a cow pen existed near the stable.  We also know, given the exhausting nature of their work, that dairy maids had to be strong and sturdy to pump away at that churn!

"The Merry Milk Maid," Marcellus Laroon, late 17th-century.

Dairy products were an important part of the diet of people in Penn’s time with butter in particular being used liberally in many recipes.  Butter was also preserved in crocks for later use, and even used as a preservative itself as it could create an airtight seal on crocks.  And of course it could be sold at market, usually by the women who made the butter.  Although buttermilk (the liquid resulting from butter production) could be turned into curds and whey for the household, “the best use of buttermilk for the able housewife is charitably to bestow it on the poor neighbours, whose wants do daily cry out for sustenance.” (Gervase Markham, The English Housewife, 1615)  Who wouldn’t want to do this after being promised that “she shall find the profit thereof in a divine place?”  Heaven for buttermilk?  What a deal!

May was the peak of butter production.  Housewives were advised to breed their cows to calve between March and April when the grass is nearly or at its richest.  The resulting milk made the best butter.  Later on in the year as the grass passed its prime (July), butter production was replaced by cheese-making – another lucrative product for households. 

engraved frontispiece of "Dictionarium Domesticum," Nathan Bailey, 1736

By 1701, the dairying equipment had disappeared from the inventory of Pennsbury Manor.  William Penn’s account books have numerous entries for purchases of butter from local young women.  Was butter not produced at Pennsbury any longer?  Or did the demands of the Penn family and guests exceed production on the site?  I am inclined to believe the latter as Penn still desired a dairy and a milk house.  Making butter was an integral chore of an estate; it would be highly unlikely that there was no dairying at all taking place.

Pennsbury will have a milking cow demonstration on April 29, and a dairying demonstration on June 17.  Both programs will take place between 1:00-4:00.  Don’t look for me to be milking or churning! 

 By Mary Ellyn Kunz, Museum Educator and Former Milkmaid

17th-Century Fashion Show!

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In less than 3 weeks, we will have a very exciting event for all members of The Pennsbury Society: a 17th-Century Fashion Show!

 One of the benefits of membership in The Pennsbury Society is access to exclusive programs here at Pennsbury Manor.  On Sunday, April 22nd at 2:00pm, our second program of 2012 will take a look at 17th-Century Fashions in England and the Colonies.   Staff member and residential costume historian, Hannah Howard, will be sharing all her knowledge on the styles of William Penn’s time, including original artifacts, paintings, and drawings of the era.  The program will finish with a Fashion Show of Pennsbury’s clothing collection and discussion of how fashion changed depending on someone’s role in society, with outfits modeled by our very own volunteers!

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pennsbury Manor is a state historic site, but we owe a lot of our program funding to our not-for profit support group, The Pennsbury Society.   The funds they raise go to support our educational and specialty programs, including our wonderful Period Clothing Collection!  If you haven’t yet become a member of the Pennsbury Society, consider joining and taking advantage of our unique events and opportunities.  For more information, please stop by the Visitor Center or see our website: https://www.pennsburymanor.org/support/membership-opportunities/ 

 

Living the Life of a 17th-Century Farmer

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Last weekend, during our annual spring Interpreter training, I shared an amazing  BBC mini-series on 17th-century farm life, and I wanted to make sure everyone else got to hear about it too! 

(I’ve actually already shared it a couple of times on this blog, including a recent article about stuffing straw mattresses.  But this is a tv series any history buff should not miss, so I couldn’t resist re-posting a link!!)

The series, called Tales From the Green Valley, follows 5 historians and archaeologists as they live on a real 17th-century Welsh farm and perform the daily activities required to survive. Unfortunately the series is not available on DVD in US-format, but luckily all 12 episodes are available onDaily Motion:*

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqprv1_e1-tales-from-the-green-valley_lifestyle 

These 12 episodes, one for every month of the year, offers a marvelous inside look at the daily lives of Stuart-era English farmers.  They follow the agricultural year and show how much life was influenced by the seasons, in ways that modern society hardly notices anymore. 

Throughout the year, we’ll be sharing more posts on seasonal activities, so stay tuned!

Hannah Howard, Volunteer Coordinator

 

*No copyright infringement intended, used for purely educational purposes

Exploring the Artifacts: Take Your Mattress and Stuff It!

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Those of you that have walked the grounds of Pennsbury may have seen a building called The Worker’s Cottage.  This reconstructed outbuilding’s original purpose or even existence is unknown, but we use it to talk about the laboring class’s lifestyle in early colonial Pennsylvania. Most people did not live as luxuriously as William Penn’s family.  Most homeowners, or people who worked as an apprentice or slave for a homeowner, lived in a 1-2 room house similar to this. 

Today we are exploring one of the biggest features in this cottage:  The Bed. This is technically not an artifact, but a reproduction, an exact replica of a historic object.  Reproductions are used in many historic sites to fill the gaps in our artifact collections.  The originals may be hard to find or too delicate to handle with visitors, so reproductions are a nice substitute that interpreters and visitors can interact with!

Raised beds would have been a luxury for many families, reserved for the master and mistress of the house. Children, servants, and slaves would have slept on mattresses on the floor.  Our bed is a reproduction that we use to interact with visitors.  But the old roping and mattress were looking extremely worn out from all the fun we’ve been having.  So it was time for a make-over! 

We started with the roped frame, creating an interlocking bottom similar to basket weaving.  The tool pictured here is called a Key, and is used to pull the ropes tight. Stretching the ropes as tight as possible, then tying them off would keep a firm foundation for the mattress.  Still, ropes stretch with use, and would need occasional tightening to ensure the occupants don’t fall through in the middle of the night!

Once the bed is tightly roped, it’s time to add a mattress.  Whenever possible, colonists would use feather down to stuff their bed.  But those without the money or means could always use straw. A sturdy, tightly woven linen ticking (cotton would become more accessible and affordable later in the 18th Century) made a great casing for the straw and prevented any irritating stalks from poking through.  Just like today’s pillows, they were sewn on three sides, flipped inside-out and stuffed fully, then sewn closed.  Over time the straw would break down, so the mattress could be reopened and emptied, then stuffed with new straw. 

To see an example of how to stuff a 17th-century mattress, check out this clip of the BBC series Tales of the Green Valley, which documents a year in the life of a 17th-century farm:http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqpvax_e8-tales-from-the-green-valley_lifestyle&start=815 .  This is an amazing series which I wish was available to purchase in the US.  However, all the episodes are available on YouTube and I highly encourage you to watch – once I started, I couldn’t stop.

In addition to the mattress, well-stuffed pillows and bed covers are also important.  Many people preferred sleeping propped-up, which explains why some beds may seem short to modern eyes (there was not a big difference in height, contrary to popular myth).  Depending on the weather, you might have many layers of sheets and blankets piled on top.  We have one light blanket of a wonderfully scratchy blue wool, but others could certainly be added.

We are so pleased with the way our 17th-century bed turned out – please check out the finished product below!  Continue reading “Exploring the Artifacts: Take Your Mattress and Stuff It!”

Confessions of a Costumier: Men’s Dressing Guide!

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Our Ladies’ Dressing Guide post back in September has been the most viewed featurette on this blog -wow!!  I am really excited to finally be able to offer a follow-up for the guys… our clothing collection for the male interpreters is starting to grow, and I encourage our volunteers start using some of the new pieces this spring!  Keep in mind that people’s jobs and station in life would change how they dressed (see our post on Clothing Diversity), but this will give a good idea of a basic outfit.  

Continue reading “Confessions of a Costumier: Men’s Dressing Guide!”

Penn’s Pen: Getting Arrested, Quaker-Style

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In November of 1667, William Penn, a freshly converted Quaker,  was arrested with18 other Quakers in County Cork, Ireland. Christopher Rye, the Mayor of Cork, was well-known for his persecution of Quakers.  In a letter to The Earl of Orrery, one of the lords justice of Ireland, Penn requests that Rye not be encouraged in his persecution. 

What is remarkable is that the 23-year old Quaker was already forming and articulating the beliefs that became such an important part of his Holy Experiment:

Religion which is at once my crime and my innocency makes me a prisoner to a mayors malice, but my own freeman, for being in the assembly of the people called Quakers there came several constables, backed with soldiers, rudely and arbitrarily requiring every man’s appearance before the mayor, and amongst many others violently haled me with them.  Upon my coming before him he charged me for being present at a riotous and tumultuary assembly…

Penn describes the scene and questions the applicability of the law upon which the Mayor made his arrests.  He then appeals to Lord Orrery:

But I presume my Lord the acquaintance you have had with other countries must needs have furnished you with this infallible observation that diversity of faith, and worships contribute not to the disturbance of any place where moral uniformity is barely requisite to preserve the peace… and conclude no way so effectual to improve advantage this country as to dispense with freedom in things relating to conscience.

An astonished Earl Orrery responded that he had already heard about the matter from Rye himself.  Orrery wrote, “I confess I was surprised and sorry to see you thus associated ” with Quakers.  Orrery forwarded the Mayor’s letter to Penn’s father the Admiral (who had at least twice previously demanded that Penn return to England immediately), and cautions Penn that “you cannot expect that I will hinder the Magistrates from doing their duty.  I hope you will follow this friendly advice…”

Looks like young adults defying their parents is nothing new!

 

Written by Mary Ellyn Kunz, Museum Educator

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