Historical Portraits

Halloween season provides a fun opportunity to consider some of the old portraits at the Madison Historical Society’s Allis-Bushnell House on the Boston Post Road. Are those eyes really following you? Well, no — not even on Halloween. Scientists tell us that the he’s-staring-at-me effect is just an optical illusion. Because the painted-in perspective and shadows don’t change when viewed from different angles, your brain interprets the unchanging view as an indication the eyes are following you.

This article originally appeared in The Shoreline Times in October 2016.  Read More…

Lighting Madison

Thomas Edison is rightfully saluted as a creative genius who brought electric lights and other modern wonders to the world. But a look through the Madison Historical Society’s examples of early lighting devices is proof that ingenuity was plentiful, long before Edison invented the incandescent light bulb. The rushlight, one of our simplest designs, holds a piece of rush — a long, grass-like leaf — that has been dried and then dipped in rendered animal fat. The lamp dates from the 1700s and is crudely made of wrought iron with a roughly cut block of wood as its base.

This article originally appeared in The Shoreline Times in October 2016.  Read More…

Swords & Sabers

The Madison Historical Society has an impressive collection of swords and sabers once proudly owned by Madison men from the 1770s to the late 1800s. They are still shiny, and some have embossed or inlaid designs on their blades. As military weapons, they illustrate the skill and artistry of their makers and their potential lethality in the expert hands of a trained soldier. They also frequently reveal information about their owners and their personal stories. We are lucky to know who owned most of the sabers in our collection — and we might even know what the owner looked like.

This article originally appeared in The Shoreline Times in March 2018.  Read More…

Ivory

Traded for more than 1,000 years for its color, workability, durability, and abundance, ivory was at the center of a hugely profitable industry. Its value from the late 1700s through the 19th century grew exponentially, booming worldwide as increased societal wealth, conspicuous consumption, and cheap labor encouraged its use in artwork, combs, keyboards, jewelry, hand fans, billiard balls, teething rings, and many other whatnots. Right here in Connecticut, the towns of Deep River and Ivoryton were national hubs of commercial ivory manufacturing.

This article originally appeared in The Shoreline Times in June 2018.  Read More…

Clarissa Munger Badger – Botanical Illustrator

Springtime, with the trees and gardens blossoming all around us, is a perfect time to remember Clarissa Munger Badger (1806-1889), the Madison artist and poet who excelled in the 19th-century world of botanical illustration.

From 1859 to 1867, Clarissa’s watercolor folios, along with her original poetry, were published as color lithographs bound into three volumes. The last of these three charming books, “Floral Belles from the Green House and Garden,” sold for $30 in its day – or about $475 in today’s currency.

This article originally appeared in The Shoreline Times in April 2017. Read More…